Being a snowflake during the Trump Years

While I had a sneaking suspicion that the polls were wrong, I, like billions of others, crossed my fingers in the hope that this two-horse race was a foregone conclusion.

We were wrong, now we need to get on with it and accept that, even though we disagree with the result, democracy prevailed and we now have to jolly well get on with making the best of it. Wrong again.

I am pretty confident that I have not been alone in hoping that the past week has been a cruel nightmare and that I will do a ‘Bobby Ewing’ and wake up in the shower.

But sadly this is real.

Trump will soon officially be the most powerful man in the world whether many of us like it or not. There have been the inevitable protests and, already, acres of print and screen space have been devoted to think pieces about why this really is a low point of the 21st Century.

The day after, the former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told journalists “it feels like the end of the world”. She wasn’t alone: the first question my seven-year-old asked me last Wednesday was “who has won?”. My answer was met with an “oh no” before she ran downstairs to sit in silence in front of the news for an hour. I tried to reassure her but I still do share her initial pessimism (she has since been distracted by more pressing issues such as writing to Father Christmas).

Since last Wednesday morning, I have spent hours scratching my head while fretting over the future with loved ones and writing lots of angst-ridden social media posts.

There is a hardcore of right wingers and contrarians who think we should just shut up. It has happened, therefore it is childish to keep banging on about it. The term snowflake is being used to describe protesters who make a lot of fuss about the state of the world, the inference being that an unwillingness to accept democratic outcomes is a sign of weakness.

Debate and sensible scrutiny is the best way to tackle the challenges which face us right now and I have no intention of keeping quiet.

Am I a snowflake? Well it is beginning to feel a lot like winter.